It is well known to form a film around food products such as seafood, meat, poultry, vegetables and dough products for effecting positive results with respect to shelf-life and product integrity. The Earle et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,255,021 and the Earle U.S. Pat. No. 3,395,024 exemplify the prior art process of using two solutions to form an alginate film which will hold and bind products together, encapsulate same thereby retarding oxidation, rancidity, dehydration and moisture migration. This known procedure is referred to herein as the wet/wet process or system.
A particular problem of moisture migration exists where a product is to be filled with a filling or coated with a food coating such as a batter or breading. Such moisture migration causes a loss of flavor during cooking of the food product, objectionable sogginess, dough-like interfacing, and excess and distorted browning of protein, sugars and other chemicals which are in food. Where a standard of identity is set for breaded products by the Food and Drug Administration or the Department of Agriculture, such moisture migration may cause the breading percentage to be much higher than is specifically allowed by that government agency.
The standard of identity for breading shrimp requires the product to have no more than 50% shrimp and 50% breading. Shrimp may be classified as lightly breaded containing no more than 35% breading. Imitation is classified as over 50% breading. However, if moisture migrates from the shrimp (which itself is over 80% water) and into the breading, it is possible to raise the percentage by weight of the breading significantly more than 50%. If the amount becomes greater than 52%, then the product must be listed as an imitation product because the dominant portion of the product would then be breading. In a lightly breaded fish product, the fish must be 65% and the breading can be no more than 35%. In a lightly breaded chicken product the breading can be no more than 30%. It is known that even in frozen storage, there is moisture migration from the fish and shrimp and other foods into the breading. Thus, it is extremely important that the moisture migration be retarded significantly to give such product added shelf life. This recognized problem is now solved through the use of the present invention.
The alginate coatings produced in the wet/wet system have many satisfactory uses. However, we have found that batters and breadings do not readily adhere to such alginate coatings. Further, sauces, such as butter sauces, run off such alginate coatings placed on a product being baked or broiled. Another problem is in producing an adhering, continuous alginate coating over an oily or waxy surface. That is, it is difficult to form a coating on such vegetables as peppers, onions, zucchini, squash, and on such protein products as cheese, sausage, ground beef, chicken skin, pork, lamp, beef and other meat combinations with cold fat on the surface. In our U.S. Pat. No. 3,865,962, we used a predusting step to overcome the problem of making breaded onion rings. Other surface pretreating steps such as acid or caustic washing or surface heating step may be necessary to prepare the food product for subsequent coating.
Browning is caused in food products when sugars and proteins migrate into the final breading. When such an action occurs, there is an uneven browning of the products which as being fried or baked. Fruits, vegetables and meat contain both sugars and proteins which, when breaded without an alginate coating, will result in such browning difficulties. Other chemicals included in the food product might also cause uneven or distorted browning during cooking. As an example, whey is an approved protein supplement. Some types of whey migrate thereby causing excess and uneven browning during the cooking of any food product having such a protein supplement.
There are several disadvantages associated with the prior art processes of applying an alginate coating to a food product. In the well known wet/wet process, a first solution includes a water soluble algin and the second solution inclues a gelling material such as calcium chloride. Extra machines are necessary for applying the separately prepared solutions. This, of course, involves additional cost in equipment, floor space and handling for the processing of the food product.